Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso: BELIEVE THE HYPE

Oh yes! The ONE shade of Milani Baked Blush that I've yet to review or swatch on this blog is now in my possession! 

The Milani Baked Blushes are my favorite blush collection so far this year, and if you missed my reviews and swatches of the other shades, you can click here to see Corallina, Red Vino and Rose D'Oro, and you can click here to see Fantastico Mauve, Bellissimo Bronze, Dolce Pink, Berry Amore and Terra Sol.

Without a doubt, Luminoso is THE most popular shade in this range (just google "Milani Luminoso" and a zillion reviews full of raves will come up), so today I'd like to give you an idea of what this universally-flattering shade has to offer, in case you haven't picked it up yet:

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso 

(retail: $7.99, 0.12 oz)

Luminoso is one of those blushes that appeals to wide variety of skintones--I can see this looking stunning on very pale/fair complexions, as well as on those with deeper skintones. It gives the skin a literal luminosity that makes the name of this blush perfectly fitting.

If you click the above photos and enlarge them, I think you'll see that this peachy-coral shade has a gorgeous sheen to it that literally illuminates the skin. Blended out (see pic above on the right), it turns a teeny tiny bit more orange on me than what you see in the pan.

I thought it might be helpful for you to see how Luminoso compares to the other coral shade in this range, so here are some side-by-side comparisons of Luminoso and Corallina (another fan favorite, for sure):

As you can see, Corallina is a more intense coral, whereas Luminoso is a softer, almost dusty peachy-coral. Also, Corallina contains silver sparkle, while Luminoso contains no sparkle:

In the above photo, I think you can really see the color differences in these two shades. Corallina has more orange in it, and if you've got a deeper skintone, I think you would be able to achieve a nice pop of coral-based color more easily with Corallina than Luminoso, which gives more of a glowy, sheer, luminous look to the skin.

In the above photo, I tried to show you that Corallina, while appearing almost matte next to Luminoso, does have a shimmer/sheen to it. It's just that, when swatched next to Luminoso's sheen, it sort of gets overpowered by Luminoso. So just for the record, Corallina is not a matte with silver sparkle, it's got a sheen to it in addition to the sparkle.

In my opinion, Luminoso is one of those universally-flattering colors that's in the same vein as NARS Orgasm. It would work with a variety of different skintones, and I just ADORE the luminous sheen it gives to the skin. When I'm looking to quickly warm up my face without being over-the-top, I reach for Luminoso. Unlike NARS Orgasm, which sometimes would require me to apply several layers to achieve a good level of pigmentation, I can swipe on Luminoso and not feel the need to build for more intensity. I love just a few quick brush strokes on my cheeks--the pigmentation is perfect for me without any effort at all.

If you're looking to buy a beautiful coral-based blush and you're not sure whether to get Luminoso or Corallina, I think it all depends on whether you're looking for a pop of coral color (if so, get Corallina) or if you want more of a luminous wash of color (if so, get Luminoso). I personally adore both, but now that I own Luminoso, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THE HYPE. This one didn't let me down one bit--in fact it totally exceeded my expectations.

Do you already own Luminoso? If so, what do you think of it? It is your favorite of all the Milani Baked Blushes?

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.